1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic camera such as a digital camera and, more particularly, to an electronic camera apparatus, playback apparatus (reproduction apparatus), and the like, which constitute a radio network and has a radio communication function of communicating data.
2. Related Background Art
Recently, digital cameras designed to convert image signals obtained by photography into digital signals and recording them on recording media have become popular. In digital cameras, memory cards using nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices as storage media for recording digital image data are generally used.
An image photographed by a digital camera is printed according to the following procedure: (a) removing a memory card from the memory card slot of the digital camera, (b) inserting the removed memory card into the PC card slot of a personal computer or the like through an adapter, and (c) sending a print instruction from the personal computer or the like to the printer connected to the personal computer or the like, thereby printing the photographed image.
In order to eliminate such complexity in operation, a digital camera has been proposed, which has a radio communication function and can directly give a print instruction to a printer by radio communication.
In the above conventional digital camera, however, a printer to print an image, i.e., a printer to which image data is to be transmitted by radio communication, must be designated in advance.
Even if a printer to which image data is to be transmitted is designated in advance, printing cannot be performed if the printer is powered off or the signal strength is small due to the specific positional relationship between the printer and other electronic devices. If the printer does not exist on the radio network, printing cannot be performed even if other printers exist on the radio network.
Furthermore, it is impossible to set a printer in advance while the user is on a trip or on the road. It is inconvenient to designate a printer every time printing is done.